Bexhill supercentenarian marks her 110th birthday

May Willis, who lives at The Sackville, in De La Warr Parade, was born on March 18, 1910, just nine years after the death of Queen Victoria and four years before the start of the First World War.

She is part of a select group of whom are called ‘supercentenarians’.

Latest figures show there are fewer than 15 people in the UK over the age of 110.

May was born in Peckham, south London. Both her parents lived to a ripe old age, her mother lived until she was 98 and her father, a gas board employee, died aged 86.

Her earliest memories date from the First World War.

She said: “As a little child, I remember saying to my mother, what’s that up in the sky? It was a Zeppelin.”

May married her husband Fred in 1933. They met at the gas board where they both worked. He was, she said, ‘the perfect gentleman’. They lived in Orpington, Kent, for many years, having a daughter, Vera.

It was here that May indulged her passion for bridge and gardening, also shared by her husband. She said: “I loved every minute of it.”

Fred won awards for his roses. Dogs were also a shared passion and over the years they had three German shepherds and several rescue dogs.

May first came to Bexhill when she and Fred had a caravan on the Marsh Road for a weekend escape. They moved to a bungalow in Little Common in 1971.

After Fred died May bought an apartment in The Sackville. Even at 110, May still lives independently with a little help from her daughter and friends. She enjoys audio books, the occasional game of bingo, social functions at the Sackville and joins friends at the support group for the partially sighted for tea and outings.

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